Rain coming down, looks familiar.  Oh well, have a lot of indoor stuff to catch up on.  Steve my buddy from Ashland OR is here in the neighborhood and meeting up with him at some point.  And how are things with you?

Catherine and Dana showed up for the walk and tapas yesterday afternoon.  The trail was nearly normal.  Monday we had mallard ducks in the puddles and Tuesday I didn’t wear my rubber boots for the first time in months.  A couple of days of sun can dry things up immensely.  But now we are back to more rain.

I have been working on my stack of books that I received as gifts around Christmas time.  Right now working on Richard Rohr’s “The Divine Dance”.   He is so amazing at clarifying seemly complicated things for me.  I read his daily blog also so I am up to speed with him as much as possible.

I wish I could boil his message down into a few paragraphs for us here on my short post.  But maybe it is possible to say something.  This book is about looking at the Trinity in a new way.  That contemplating on The Trinity as a model or blueprint of relationship we can see the world and our lives in a different better way.  Sort of changing our understanding can change our perceptions and that can change our being.  It is more in line with the way God was thought about by the early Christians.

Yea, I lean on this stuff pretty heavily these days living with my cancer.  It is reassuring to know there is more to life than my problems.  That there is more to life than the daily human drama.  That I am part of a big plan, that we are part of a big plan.

OK, I hear the Comcast gal is going to be here any minute to check out our dead landline.  Better get out of my jammies and get things going.  Alperfect for miles, love you, Felipe.

Just a pause to relax for a half hour to write the blog.  My day is looking like it has a lot of moving parts so nice to sit down .  Well, the Zags came up short last evening but we were with them the whole way.  I don’t know a thing about basketball but I can get excited about it once in a while.  Yea, that is a far as the team has ever gone and pretty darn good for someplace nobody ever heard of.

Last year at this time we were getting started on a whole string of film festivals for showing of Phil’s Camino.  It has been quite a year.  We were in Dubuque, Iowa in April after the Austin premiere in March.  So, I met some great folks there and have kept in touch with them and things are happening with us.  Later today I am meeting via FaceTime with Our Kathy from there to do a spiritual exercise.   And of course Pilgrim Farmer  John and Farmer Cathy we are in contrast contact with us.  They should be just getting back from their cross country bike trip any second.

While I was in Dubuque I had a chance to visit the Mother House for Sister Joyce’s order, the Sister’s of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the BVM).  Recently she wrote a two page article for Salt magazine, the official worldwide publication for her order about us. That’s the pic on the cover of the spring issue above.  That’s Sister Joyce and I on Phil’s Camino.  She hasd such trouble walking with her bad hip so she always drove the riding mower around the half mile.  Pretty cute pic, makes me chuckle.  And let’s not forget prayers for the Sister as she just got that hip replaced a week ago.  Thanks.

Well, off to my day, that’s all the pause I get.  Make the most of it today!  Love, Felipe.

I was up on Friday visiting Sister Joyce at the hospital and one of her friends was there and asked about the word caminoheads.  I had to do some remembering myself to come up with the beginnings of that.  That was three years ago next month.  We are coming up on our anniversary.  But I digress, caminoheads came from two places really.  One was a little poem or quote where the author was writing about the drug-like qualities of the Camino as in you will get hooked.  Can’t get enough right?  And you are always thinking about how to get back to it., right?   And the other was, and totally unrelated, the snack food Cheeseheads.  Maybe they don’t have them where you are but they are a stick of mozzarella chesse handily wrapped in plastic and ready to throw in your lunch box or pack.  There is a friendly if not a little crazy looking character printed on each that is the Cheesehead.  So, those two things kind of came together in a certain right brain kind of way and Saint James is your uncle,

Also in the news is the big championship basketball game tonight between the evil pagan North Carolina Tarheels and the pious good looking Gonzaga Bulldogs.   Now I’m not biased on this one, am I?  I caught the fever from Kelly, I’ll blame it on him.

I wanted to include a little history lesson on Saint Gonzaga.  Not that I am trying to curry any favor to influence things.  Anyway, Aloysius Gonzaga is the patron saint of youth.  OK, that’s the first thing.  I am consulting a wonderful book of the saints that Padre Tomas gave to me.  There is not a lot on him here.  He lived from 1568-91.  “Despite his family’s military ambition for him, he became a Jesuit.  Feast Day: 21 June.”  Well that is not a lot.  Oh, here is a little more in the Jesuit section, “nursed plague victims and wrote important texts.”  Wow, now that’s lame.  If I am not mistaken he died of that very same plague at an early age.  We will have to revisit this history when we have more time.  Go Zags!

Off to walk.  Most of my regulars are off on missions and probably be alone.  I’ll take the camera and capture something.   Later, love, Felipe.

,

Monday 0900-1000

Tuesday 1600-1700

Thursday 0900-1000

Sunday 1600-1700

So come and walk, conditions improving every day.  You don’t have to bother calling, just show up.  That is part of the mystery, who will be here?  Felipe.x

Beautiful blue sky out there.  Just got back from Mass and itching to get out there to the splitter and the woodpile.  But first to check in with you.

Holy week starting next Sunday.  Lots of activities going on.  It is all the culmination of the Lenten period.    As kids I remember us all getting new shoes for Easter, a treat.

But whatever blue sky or gray, work to do or not, activities going on or not, new shoes or worn out shoes it is good to check in with each other.   We deserve each other helping, buoying up, maybe prodding each other.   It is important that this beat goes on no matter what the weather, weather in a big or small sense.

I lit a candle at church for Suzanne and Ladybug House earlier.  Maybe someone is lighting a candle for me somewhere.  I hope so.  Keeping each other in mind and in our prayers is so important.  We are vital links in this chain.  But it is more three dimensional than that.  Or maybe a couple of more dimensions thrown in for good measure, more like a cloud.

Short and sweet today.  Hope that your weather is good where you are.  Get some fresh air and sunshine.  OK, love you, miss you with the beat goes on loves, Felipe.

Just got back from my Bible Guys class.  We always have a good and productive time.  It’s a steady group.  We generally try to cover one chapter out of the New Testament each week.  Someone different studies up beforehand and leads every time.  Next week I volunteered to lead because it is a really dramatic if not important story.  It is Acts 9 the conversion of Saul to Paul, the great evangelist and writer of half of the Christian Bible.

This story is often called the Road to Damascus because that is where it took place.  Saul a heavy in the old paradigm meets Christ while he is traveling alone on his horse.  Saul has been persecuting members of the new paradigm and he is traveling north to continue his work in surrounding area.  He is knocked off his horse and temporarily blinded by this encounter with Christ, the new paradigm.   The experience is so powerful and instructive that Saul changes direction in his inner life 180 degrees, which is what conversion means, to change direction.

His inner life changes and then his outer life changes.  Saul becomes Paul the exporter of Christianity to the gentile world.  In other words he embraces wholeheartedly the new paradigm and becomes it’s biggest salesman to the known world.

We can’t hang around this life without getting thrown from our own horses sooner or later.  It’s how I view my encounter with cancer.  It could just as easily be a divorce, or death in the family or other major catastrophe.   But is that the end of the story for us?  Somehow we have to come up with a valuable ending, that’s one of  major our challenges really.

OK, off to split firewood.  I have some hours before the big Gonzaga game this afternoon.  Talk to you tomorrow, love, Felipe.

I’m at the treatment center in the comfy chair for a couple of hours.  Got a seat with a view of downtown Seattle.  It would be kind of fun to know the names of all those buildings.  They weren’t even there when I first got here in the early Seventies.  The tallest building then was the Smith Tower which was the tallest west of the Mississippi for a while.  Now it is dwarfed by the old march of time.

Yea, the dream.  Remember last month I had the Disfigured Muse dream.  She had such a powerful spirit that it outshines her “problem”.   I’m still high on that one.  Now last night or probably early this morning I had this little short dream that My Rebecca had died.  The climax was that I was getting her body ready for burial and I felt the inside of her right knee and it was warm.  Why would that be?   And then she was alive and back to us, yea.  That was it, really so short, so understated.

She has always been fancinated by the near death experience.  She reads books about it. Or books about the stories of people who have experienced heaven and somehow have returned to us here.  So apropos that she would do this in my dream.  But it sounds like something is dying and rising again in me would be my shoot from the hip interpretation of that.

Oh, it is brightening up outside.  The barometer is way up and the afternoon may be beautiful.  We need that.  Maybe it will carry into the weekend.

Well, the big Gonzaga college basketball game is tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll be over at Kelly’s to keep him company with his favorite team playing.  Rick’s coming, maybe others.  Looks like a get together to me, possible shindig.

Well, obviously all good here.  Always good to see you, love, Felipe.

Gee, a really quiet morning here. Time to put a thought down while I can. The phone will ring any second, nature abhors a vacuum.

Had a fun time going to treatment yesterday in the big city. A friend from church gave me a ride to and fro so that was a pleasant relief. We had four hours to talk and laugh. Then my people at the hospital were there so we could all egg each other on. Lovin all those guys. Back there tomorrow.

And that reminds me Sister Joyce is there at Swedish Hospital. She is recovering from hip surgery but somehow had a complication and is in ICU. I will try and see her tomorrow PM if they let me after I get out of treatment. A prayer, a thought sent her way would be appreciated. She is such a vital part of this whole lash-up (cowboy slang for organization).

So big weekend in our State. Gonzaga, a Catholic college basketball powerhouse made it to the Final Four and they have a game tomorrow against…? I would look it up but our internet got some rain water in it or something, is kabluie. This is Kelly’s team. I called him last night to see how much he was charging to have people come over and watch with him.

Oh, man, got a woodpecker screwing around on the outside of the house. It’s the old Wild Kingdom and nature abhors a vacuum collision. Oh, he’s gone, must not have liked the flavor.

Also, Pilgrim Farmer John accompanied by Farmer Kathy have completed their cross country trip. John on his trusty bike and Kathy driving the RV chase vehicle. We are thankful that they were successful and are safe. They have to get back to Iowa for corn planting here shortly.

So lots of moving parts today: walk at 0900, archery at 1000, then lumberjacking till 1600. Have a FaceTime with Cris from Buenos Aires then.

Also scheduled next week to work with a friend and her friend to get in touch with my guardian angel. Apparently there is a way and I am going to try it as long as they are offering. I don’t know how much of that I need to hold private or how much I can share. But a new adventure.

Well, I will try and cut and paste this post onto the blog. Have to make things happen for my readers come rain or shine. So, let’s see what happens. Love again and again, Felipe.

I got a ride to treatment today with a friend Jessika.  A nice change of pace not to have to battle the traffic.  We jabbered away the whole time.  She works with the new people coming into the Church at St. John Vianney’s.  I’m a fairly new person there I feel sometimes but been there four years this Easter.  Anyway she was after my conversion story so she had me captured in the car for two hours.  So we did that pretty much and maybe there are a few items that we forgot and we have two hours this afternoon to finish up.

Just like knowing Jessika I am being so thankful for all the great people in my life, thousands of them it seems like.  What a blessing.  What a healing tool or opportunity.  I am buoyed up by every single one of them and I hopefully do something for them in the process.   We learn from Erica de America that community is an important factor in healing and I have a massive one in both number and quality.  Thank you all, sincerely.

It is starting to brighten up outside the window.  Folks here are so sick of the rainy early spring weather.   We are on the brink but it is so hard to wait for.  I’m not whining myself, just heard others.  Hehe.

So nice to sit here and do nothing today, well nothing physical.  I was off lumberjacking the last two days and am exhausted.  Yesterday afternoon after our walk I felt all the muscles in my body quiver like most of the time on the Camino.  Just that feeling that I took a thousand too may steps.  Sound familiar?

OK, I have my PT person coming in, have to go.  So great to hang out with you.  Leave a comment when you get a chance.  Love, Felipe.

Adding new is what I click on to get to this place on WordPress where I write this blog.  So I just clicked on that and here I am.  I’m off today to gather firewood for next winter but first must check in with you.  What would my day be without touching  base with you.

So, you know I try not to not have things interfere with my quiet little morning so I can come up with something interesting and thought provoking for you, for me.  But right smack dab in the middle of my quiet time who should call but my oldest friend from Buffalo, NY where we both grew up.  It was way back when in another era.  There was a whole different set of concerns and dreams and nightmares then.

So, I just said to My Rebecca, “what am I going to write about now since Jim called and captured my thoughts?”.   So Rebecca comes up with the easy peasy answer of, “Well, write about Jim.”   Well OK.

Jim’s Mom was my Mother’s hairdresser.  She was my Aunt Marion even though we weren’t related.  Jim’s Dad was a physician who was semiretired when we were young.  Some of my favorite times were of the three of us traveling together.  Jim’s Dad had a office in downtown in a beautiful old building left over from Buffalo’s hayday years before.  He worked until noon and then drove out to his farm on the outskirts to work the afternoon.  Jim and I would get to his office and go with him to the country.  It was a drive in a big old green Hudson Hornet which is for sure from a different era.

We had three work horses down there with all the tack and gear and we would help out with chores.  There were chickens and wildlife around.  We had a great time.  Later Jim found his way into the Army and became a medic in Vietnam like my Dad in WWII.  Jim really looked up to my Dad as I did to his.   Then Jim was off to medical school after the service to follow in his father’s foot steps.

So, since then Jim has retired from his life’s work and has a full schedule of all sorts of people related activities from teaching English and chess to taking a music class.   And now actually we have plenty to talk about with my cancer related activities of late.  We sort of reconnect way a different set of topics.

Anyway, old friends are a joy, giving one a certain grounding in this turbulent world.  Hang on to yours.  Thanks for going on this little “Jim” adventure this morning.

OK, off to the firewood project.  Alperfect really, love, Felipe.